Laughter - the best spiritual medicine?

Jesuit urges Catholics to find humour and joy in the spiritual life


When Saint Thomas More was about to place his head on the block before the executioner raised his sword, he lifted his grey beard which had grown to a great length over many months in prison, and placed it forward, remarking that the beard had done nothing wrong so it didn't deserve to be chopped in half.

Father James Martin

Talk about gallows humour!

Now comes Jesuit priest Father James Martin's "Between heaven and Mirth - Why Joy, Humour and Laughter are at the Heart of the Spiritual Life" available at www.amazon.com.

Father Martin says that a healthy spirituality and a healthy sense of humour go hand-in-hand with God's great plan for humankind.

He also gives examples of purposeful levity in stories of biblical heroes and heroines, and in the lives of the saints and world's great spiritual masters and invites readers to rediscover the importance of humour and laughter in our daily lives and to embrace an essential truth: faith leads to joy.